MARCH MADNESS IS ALMOST HERE!The College Conference Tournaments are a Cash CowThe NCAA Tournament is a Gold MineThe NIT is an ATM MachineWhen the money is on the line, Jim Hurley is on the money! – Jim Hurley

This is Richie’s NIT PARLAY OF THE YEAR and the planned 2-0 SWEEP will add to his already sparkling 6-2 mark in 2015. He has BOTH WINNERS and so will you – Richie Baccellieri

Wayne Root March Madness

From The King Of Vegas Sports Betting, Wayne Allyn RootA March Madness Like No Other - Huge Profits For ClientsWayne Wins Again On Sunday and Finishes 17-6, 74% March Madness "Pinnacle" Games Of Year - Now 4-0, 100% Winners. – Wayne Root

The Vegas Sports Masters

Kelso Sturgeon is not a shadow or a mirage. I am a real person, a man who has been handicapping football for more than 4 decades, and I bring to the table a set of credentials you can't find anywhere else in this business.

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Wayne Allyn Root is the only man to create a multi-million dollar empire out of nothing but picking winners! Long-time host of his own shows on Fox and USA Network, he has been celebrated in the business press and by all the TV pundits. He set the record for most outright upset winners in football in three different seasons and has enjoyed another winning and profitable basketball season. Wayne is the only oddsmaker/handicapper with his own Star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars.

JIM HURLEY is the founder and president of the most unusual organization in sports wagering.

Created as a small handicapping service back in 1985, Jim's NETWORK has evolved into a nationwide TASK FORCE of, handicappers, scouts, number crunchers, draftniks and former pro players who study and analyze every team and every game to develop BETTER information, make SMARTER picks and win MORE money!

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In case you don't know me, for years people in Vegas knew Richie B as a kind of linesmaker's linesmaker - a kind of numerical purist who, when every other sports book in Vegas was posting Ohio State (-7) over Texas, I was saying... "NO! It ought to be Ohio State (-8)!"

I took a position. I didn't just put up a "betting middle" where I could draw even betting action from both sides. Instead - if I really felt the Buckeyes were stronger than generally thought - I'd put up (-8) or even (-9) and dare the bettors, "Come and get me! Prove me wrong!"

Tony Salinas arrived in Las Vegas over two decades ago fresh from the family ranch in Texas, looking for the next winning thing. After all, he'd always been a winner back home... captain of the football team, State Champion tennis player, point guard for the district-winning basketball team, and Texas Calf Roping Champion in both high school & College.

Tony was an immediate hit, winning the $85,000 Castaways Challenge of 1980, and has never looked back. Tony is the proud winner of over a dozen handicapping contests, including two years ago when he beat out 226 other rivals to take the title in the $135,000 Hilton Superbook Handicapping Championship.

Jim Feist for decades has been the leader in the sports wagering information field. Beginning in the 1970s Jim has been ahead of the curve with Proline, the longest running sports football handicapping show on USA Cable Network and the Internet. Also, National Sports Services, utilizing the first telephone line services (Jim Feist’s Personal Line Service), former publisher of the Official Nevada Rotation, creator of Sports Tracker, Internet Web Sites (Jim Feist.com; DonBest.com)

In the world of Handicapping, the average bettor is up against a well financed, information-rich, experienced Casino Sportsbooks and Linesmakers.ARE YOU STANDING ALONE AGAINST ALL ODDS?YOU ARE NO LONGER ALONE!Five professional handicappers have stepped forward to beat the line. If getting one strong man to help you win a fight, surely finding six is a dream come true. Isn't it time you learned more about the Vegas Sports Masters?

Blog Headlines

Because of the big response to my March Madness market reports, I scheduled this special update for the Final Four of the NIT. I’ll have two more basketball reports this college season….late this week for the NCAA’s Final Four…and then a special game day market assessment on Monday for the National Championship showdown.

The NIT is much different than the NCAA tourney in terms of public interest. There’s very little square action hitting the board because

*We don’t have high profile media teams

*We don’t have tourists coming in from all over the country to bet the games

Handicappers confronted with the NIT Final Four Tuesday Night on ESPN are being confronted with one glaring question. “Who the heck is Old Dominion?!” If bettors who have heard of ODU have trouble placing the conference, remembering anything of note about the team, or even recalling if they’ve seen highlight packages involving the Monarchs.

To get you up to speed for Tuesday’s NIT semifinal nightcap featuring Old Dominion and Stanford, here are a few quick notes…

*ODU finished tied for second this year in Conference USA…trailing regular season champion Louisiana Tech and knotted up with UTEP. (This was the conference who’s tournament…

There’s a lot of buzz about the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four that will be played this weekend in Indianapolis. Three of the four #1 seeds are there…and “outsider” Michigan State is far from a pretender given the program’s history and Sparty’s form over the past few weeks.

The NIT? Well, it’s also a Final Four. That’s about it! There are no real marquee teams in the brackets this year. And, anyone who felt snubbed about being on the wrong side of the Dance bubble didn’t have much of a leg to stand on. That being said…the four teams who are left…

In many years, the NIT provides a special bonus for college basketball fans who can’t get enough of their favorite sport as March turns to April. Sometimes, it even “steals the show” because fired up teams who don’t want their seasons to end play great pressure-free basketball while the Big Dance grinds to a halt because nervous, over-coached kids freeze up.

This year…I’m not finding too many people who are even interested in the NIT’s Final Four. When you see Tuesday’s matchups, that’s understandable.

If you’ve been paying attention to the NBA in recent days, you know that there’s been some very ugly basketball being played at the professional level. There’s also been some high end stuff from championship contenders. But, for the most part…

*Many bad teams are trying to lose for draft position

*Many mediocre teams are just playing out the string

*Many CONTENDERS have some troubles they haven’t fixed

*Many CONTENDERS without troubles are COASTING anyway

You’re lucky if there are one or two games per night that feature two teams playing head-to-head who care about the result and are going all out to win. In…

And then there were four! An entertaining weekend of Sweet 16 and Elite 8 action has winnowed the 2015 NCAA tournament brackets down to four regional survivors. Let’s see how each of those four teams headed to Indianapolis survived this past weekend. We’ll run through the key stats in the order the games were played...

Wisconsin 85, Arizona 78

Shooting Pct: Arizona 56%, Wisconsin 56%

Three-Pointers: Arizona 2/6, Wisconsin 12/18

Free Throws: Arizona 28/30, Wisconsin 23/31

Rebounds: Arizona 22, Wisconsin 21

Turnovers: Arizona 10, Wisconsin 9

Las Vegas Line: Arizona by 1.5, total of 137

This was all about three-pointers for Wisconsin…where they were an astonishing +30 on…

A lot of excitement Saturday Night in Las Vegas as fans in sportsbooks all over the city watched undefeated Kentucky barely held on to beat Notre Dame. The pointspread result was never in doubt because the Wildcats never got close to the 11-point projection. But, there was A LOT of money sweating the straight up result.

*Many bettors have Kentucky to win the National Championship…at various odds depending on when they bet during the season. Those tickets just missed getting torn up before Final Four weekend.

*Many bettors have Kentucky going undefeated, a proposition that’s also been available at various prices during…

Concerns about the shooting backdrop in Houston’s cavernous dome stadium were front and center again Friday night when Duke and Gonzaga won surprisingly low scoring UGLY victories over Utah and UCLA respectively. Both games stayed under by a bunch because nobody could hit a trey…and there were long stretches were nobody could hit any two-pointers either. The favorites won…largely because they had better inside games and were able to score more chippies. Are we destined for a battle of chippies?!

There’s hope that:

*Familiarity will breed better shooting, meaning that the players will adjust to the backdrop. It’s worth noting though that…

Game One of Sunday’s Elite 8 opening doubleheader features the #4 seeded Louisville Cardinals and the #7 seeded Michigan State Spartans in the East Regional championship played at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. It might seem odd to have a #4 facing a #7 for a right to go to the Final Four. But, it’s certainly not odd to see Louisville and Michigan State battling to get there. Those programs have a knack for peaking in the Dance because they specialize in playoff style basketball.

Plus…

*Michigan State should obviously have been a much superior seed. It’s crazy that they…

We’re now down to the last eight teams in the NCAA Tournament. Saturday’s winners will advance to the Final Four that begins a week from today in Indianapolis. Many believe that today’s winner in Cleveland is destined to cut down the nets a week from Monday night because the Kentucky Wildcats will be clear favorites whenever they take the court against whoever they play.

More evidence of that is on the board today, where Kentucky is a double digit favorite over the team that won the ACC tournament! Let’s see how sharps have been betting Saturday’s doubleheader…a pair of games that…

Before Thursday night’s Sweet 16 action began, we were fairly certain that we’d be previewing the Wisconsin/Arizona game in this Saturday report. Those two seemed like the most clear threats to Kentucky’s hopes for an undefeated championship season. The winner of Wichita State/Notre Dame was, on paper anyway…much less of a threat.

But, NOW, after watching Thursday’s action…the world is a little more complicated.

*Notre Dame reminded everyone that their elite offense can get red hot at times in a way that could easily take out Kentucky in a 40-minute sprint. If a team has to play a bit over its heads…

Game One of Saturday’s Elite 8 opening doubleheader features the #1 seeded Wisconsin Badgers and the #2 seeded Arizona Wildcats in the West Regional championship played at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Before the event began, everyone circled this game as a must-see thriller. Respected Power Ratings suggested that Wisconsin and Arizona might be the actual #2 and #3 teams in the whole tournament right behind Kentucky. That’s how the markets were pricing them. (Notre Dame is +11 in Saturday’s other matchup…no way either Wisconsin or Arizona will be +11 if one gets a shot at Kentucky next weekend). And,…

Sharps weren’t very happy about the first result on the board Thursday night…when Wichita State lost badly to Notre Dame after being bet up two points. But, big Wise Guy moves (from earlier in the week) on Wisconsin and the Over vs. North Carolina paid off thanks to a big free throw parade in the final moments for the Badgers. Sharps know a winner is just around the corner even when a result or two doesn’t go their way.

Four more games for sports bettors to attack Friday night. Sharps have already made their presence felt in a few spots. But,…

How does Michigan State do it? Year after year, no matter what happened in the first half or three-quarters of the season…Sparty peaks at the right time. In a sport where several big-name programs annually underachieve their seed, Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans keep finding their way into the Sweet 16 even if they were seeded to fall in the first weekend.

Friday night, #7 seed in the East Michigan State takes on #3 seed Oklahoma at 10:05 p.m. ET (7:05 p.m. in Las Vegas) in Syracuse. This fresh on the heels if a wire-to-wire win over #2 seeded Virginia…the second…

You longtime readers of the NOTEBOOK know that we’re generally skeptical of Duke in the Big Dance. They tend to be too soft inside to survive the month of March, too reliant on three-point shooting to be trusted to run the table, and too-reliant on officiating in the regular season to know what to do when they aren’t getting the calls.

But, in 2015…so far so good. Duke is one of the few teams to barely break a sweat amidst a 2-0 start straight up and against the spread. Other top seeds Kentucky and Wisconsin are both 0-2 vs. high prices.…

After four days off the schedule, the 2015 NCAA Tournament returns Thursday with four Sweet 16 matchups…two in Cleveland and two in Los Angeles. There will be four more “Round of 16” encounters Friday…which I’ll discuss in a separate report tomorrow at this time.

Las Vegas is much calmer for Week Two of the Big Dance than for Week One. That’s because there aren’t day games Thursday and Friday. Fewer tourists schedule weekend trips because there isn’t round-the-clock basketball. But, this particular Sweet 16 is still going to be a very good draw. Arizona and UCLA from the Pac 12 have…

You will hear longtime followers of the NCAA Tournament say the following: “Sure, there are upsets and surprises in the first weekend of the Big Dance…but, after that, form holds and the favorites usually win.”

For many years, that was true. And, who knows, maybe it will be true again this season when we have favorites who the market sees as much superior to their Sweet 16 opponents. But, THE KING OF UPSETS is here to remind you that a lot of people thought favorites were going to rule the latter rounds last year. Do you remember what happened?

The first teams to take the floor in the 2015 Sweet 16 will be the Wichita State Shockers and Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who tip off at 7:15 p.m. ET (4:15 p.m. in Las Vegas) Thursday in Cleveland. It’s a fascinating matchup of teams who have managed to be both impressive and disappointing in recent weeks…and who have drawn the misfortune of being “sleeper” teams in Kentucky’s bracket.

Does this game even matter?!

It won’t if Kentucky blows out the winner on Saturday (assuming the Wildcats advance past West Virginia as 13-point favorites). But, there’s certainly a chance that the very best…

Now that the first full weekend of the 2015 NCAA Tournament is behind us, it’s important to note something that is looming very large in this particular event.

COACHING MATTERS!

It’s amazing how many of the “usual suspects” are still alive in the Sweet 16…even if they weren’t seeded to make it this far. There’s Tom Izzo of Michigan State, back even though his Spartans were only a #7 seed (ridiculous in hindsight, though it was widely blasted at the time too). There’s Rick Pitino of Louisville even though the Cards entered this year’s event as seeming non-entities after a late-season fade.…

The mainstream media is making a lot about the success West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins has had against Kentucky coach John Calipari in the NCAA Tournament. But, that feels a bit like grasping for a storyline given that Kentucky is a whopping 13.5-point favorite over West Virginia Thursday Night in Cleveland in the Sweet 16.

Sure, Huggins has a way of disrupting what other teams are trying to do. But, can he disrupt what looks to be one of the greatest college teams ever…when West Virginia barely registered as a major team in what’s turned out to be a very…

The Wisconsin Badgers entered the Big 10 tournament on the short list of teams who could seriously challenge the Kentucky Wildcats for the National Championship. Yes, Kentucky still looks to be head and shoulders above the field. But, teams like Wisconsin and Arizona were seen to be in a special zone that was below Kentucky but at least “a head” above everyone else.

Until…

Wisconsin (-7) had to go overtime to beat Michigan State in the Big 10 finals

Wisconsin (-20) didn’t thrill in an 86-72 win over Coastal Carolina

Wisconsin (-12) had to sweat the second half in a 72-65 win over Oregon

And, then there were eight! Tuesday brings the start of the NIT quarterfinals. The final eight teams in this college basketball showcase will be battling to reach the Final Four that will be played early next week at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The power conferences are represented in Tuesday’s ESPN doubleheader. Miami of the ACC takes on Richmond of the Atlantic 10 in the opener (the top two seeds in their quarter of the bracket). That’s followed by Vanderbilt of the SEC visiting Stanford of the Pac 12. Stanford was the #2 seed in its quarter. Vandy is…

It’s not fair to say that the NCAA Tournament was hit by a rash of upsets. Favorites started to find their footing after that crazy first session last Thursday. But, THE KING OF UPSETS was certainly very happy with my first week results. You read about some of that late last week. This past weekend, I was on NC State in their upset of Villanova. I was on Louisville in their upset of Northern Iowa. I was on Wichita State in their upset of Kansas (though that game actually closed at pick-em).

I usually try to wait until the second week of the NIT to talk about handicapping this storied but somewhat downtrodden event? Why is that? Because, the first round is often about weeding out teams who don’t want to be there. Traditional handicapping doesn’t matter if a team doesn’t care. You want to focus on teams who are trying to win. After the first round, everybody playing has a victory under their belt, and is now thinking more seriously about making it to the Final Four in New York.

Yes, it was an exciting but grueling weekend of basketball. Huge Dance schedules Thursday and Friday. Then, the powers-that-be have run the Saturday and Sunday schedules deep into the night in a way that exhausts avid sports bettors who want some quiet handicapping time. When are winners supposed to sleep?!

Well, those of you thinking that Monday was a day to take off are mistaken. Sure, the Big Dance is quiet until Thursday. But, the other tournaments, particularly the NIT, are back in action to give handicappers and sharp bettors some interesting targets to fire at.

One of the biggest steam moves we’ve seen in the first week of the NCAA Tournament involves the Sunday Night finale matching fourth seed Louisville and fifth seed Northern Iowa. The game opened pick-em, not surprising for a battle of close seeds. But, the money kept pouring in on Northern Iowa…up to -1…to -2…and even to -3 before Louisville money started hitting board Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas.

Is Louisville THAT bad? Is the ACC going to be exposed day and night on Sunday (Virginia and Duke play early) in a way that their faithful are dreading? Or, has the market…

Once again, the “Round of 32” schedule on Sunday in the Big Dance is back-loaded to maximize prime time exposure. But, in this case we actually have some potential blockbusters in early action. The day doesn’t start with a game as lame as UCLA-UAB!

The lack of upsets Friday has created a really great slate. We’re going to focus on the three warm-ups to get you ready for another great day of action.

Virginia (2) vs. Michigan State (7)

One of the biggest differences between the betting markets and the selection committee was in how they viewed the teams of Michigan State and…

Because there was only one seeding upset Friday, we have a slate of real blockbusters Sunday as the “Round of 32” finishes at four sites across the nation. Superpowers are facing legitimate tests. And, we have a few games that would be the equivalent of Sweet 16 matchups if the brackets were based on market Power Ratings.

Hope fully these games live up to the hype. If so, it could be one of the most memorable Sundays in tournament history.

I’ll run the matchups in tip-off order again, so the information best matches real-world betting.

It’s not exactly the movie “Hoosiers,” but it’s a classic battle for Indiana bragging rights when the Butler Bulldogs take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the final tip-off of the busy Saturday card in the NCAA Tournament.

Butler survived a hardfought battle with Texas to create another chance to go deep in the Big Dance. Notre Dame blew a comfortable lead, and had to sweat the ending early Thursday against unheralded Northeastern. Clearly there was a bit of a hangover after the Irish won the ACC tournament last weekend. Still, they weren’t supposed to be crossing their fingers in…

The powers-that-be have backloaded the Saturday schedule in the NCAA Tournament. There are only three games with afternoon starts, with the remainder of the card set for prime time and later. Here are some quick notes on the day games.

UCLA (11) vs. Alabama-Birmingham (14)

The game that already guarantees that a double digit seed will be playing in the Sweet 16…we have a pair of upset winners squaring off at the lunchtime tipoff in Louisville.

*UCLA stole a win in the final seconds from SMU on a controversial but technically correct goaltending call (hopefully they’ll fix that rule!). It was a game…

We have eight games to look at on Saturday. The TV networks have jumbled up the schedule…so I’m going to write up everything for you in tip-off order rather than how the games are listed in the official Nevada Rotation. I want this to match the real-world betting experience for you as much as possible. So, we’ll start with the earliest tips of the day then work our way through the full card.

The day starts in Louisville with both games running uncontested on TV before thing really get busy in prime time.

Based on media coverage and public uproar, you would have thought that Thursday was the single most surprising day in the history of the NCAA Tournament. You know who wasn’t surprised? WAYNE ALLYN ROOT!

There were definitely a lot of skeptics saying that the Big 12 was overrated this year as a power conference. Fans of the ACC…fans of the Big 10…fans of any conference that wasn’t getting enough love from the media! But, early action in the 2015 NCAA Tournament certainly drove home the case that the best computer rated teams in the Big 12 weren’t as good as everyone had been lead to believe.

Iowa State lost to Alabama-Birmingham

Baylor lost to Georgia State

Texas (a computer darling) lost to Butler

Iowa State won the conference tournament last weekend. Baylor was a popular darkhorse pick to…

Seems like it happens every year. The Michigan State Spartans start slowly…often playing below par over the early stages of the season. Then, just when everyone decides this isn’t their year…they play great in March and have a dramatic impact on the Big Dance.

The stage was set for a replay of that last week when:

*Michigan State (-2) beat Ohio State 76-67

Ohio State ranks in the top 20 in most computer assessments, and this was a fairly decisive neutral court result. Easy cover for Sparty in what was supposed to be a toss-up in the Big 10 quarterfinals.

Wow, you should have seen the overflow crowds at Las Vegas sportsbooks for the first full day of NCAA Tournament action. If you can’t attend any games in person, THIS is the place to be! I’m so glad I got all of my preparation work done early…because there’s barely time to think once the games begin.

Here’s what sharps were thinking based on their early betting action (or inaction) in the 16 games set for Friday. I’ll go in schedule order in terms of location, but in tip-off order at each site so the information matches your real-world betting needs.

I know all of you regular students here in my College of Advanced Sports Betting and Handicapping are very excited about the start of the NCAA Tournament. I know you’ve been doing all the homework, and you’re prepared for the smorgasbord of action that begins today.

Believe it or not, there’s still a little more work you can be doing. I’ve given you quite a bit of guidance for making smart picks day-by-day and round-by-round. But, as you watch all the games on TV, I want you to focus on the following. Study how teams handle PRESSURE.

You saw what the selection committee was thinking when they put together North Carolina and Harvard for a prime time tip-off on night one of the full 2015 Dance card. One of the most storied programs in college history gets to face a Cinderella from a big media market. And, there’s some nice Carolina-Duke rivalry stuff underlying the coaching battle. On a day destined to see a lot of boring blowouts and non-entity yawners…THIS was the game that would generate great ratings!

It might…but it could also be the game where everyone realizes this year’s Harvard squad isn’t much like last…

Now, this is what these opening Thursday/Friday games in the NCAA Tournament should be all about:There are 12 – count ‘em, 12 – games being played that pit a power conference team (Thursday’s NCAA Tournament menu had 11 such matchups) against a non-power conference team and you can rest assured that they’ll be at least a couple of “little guys” that snag wins here with (according to the public) the popular upset picks including #12 Buffalo against #5 West Virginia in Columbus and #10 Davidson against #7 Iowa in Seattle.

After months of anxious anticipation, the first Thursday of the Big Dance has finally arrived. There a few games in the early session that are true marquee matchups. Though, a lot can be said about the potential entertainment merits of UCLA-SMU and Ohio State-Virginia Commonwealth, the daytime tip that combines entertainment value with importance is clearly Texas vs. Butler (2:45 p.m. ET in Pittsburgh).

Why is THAT game so important?

*Even though it’s a 6-11 matchup in the seedings…the computers and respected market Power Ratings would suggest it’s much more of a 4-5 or 5-6 type matchup. This should be a Saturday…

The first busy day of NCAA Tournament action is here. Let’s run through how sharps have been betting all 16 Thursday matchups. I’ll be back with you at the same time tomorrow for a look at Friday’s equally busy slate.

I’ll go in schedule order of locations…but in tip-off order at each site so you can apply what you’re seeing to the real-word betting schedule. The first game listed at each site is the first game scheduled in the afternoon. The first two games at each site are day games…the last two are night games. Here we go…

THE NCAA TOURNAMENT:WE CHECK OUT MORE “FIRST FOUR” ACTIONPLUS WE ZIP ‘ROUND THE LAND WITHTHURSDAY’S TOP “BIG DANCE”NEWS/NOTES/PREVIEWSAND KEY POINTSPREAD QUESTIONS

There’s been plenty written about how this is “Kentucky’s tournament to lose” as the 34-and-oh Wildcats are, in fact, even money to win this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Still, the rest of the field simply cannot think that way – we remember 30 years ago when everyone (and we mean everyone) had crowned the Georgetown Hoyas as the national champion only to have Villanova throw the “perfect game” and win one of the most exciting sports events in this country going back…

A busy week of market coverage begins today with my look at how sharps have been betting the “First Four” games Tuesday and Wednesday night in the NCAA Tournament. Something pretty amazing happened in Tuesday’s NIT games…so I decided to mention that as well.

The offshores forgot about the 30-second clock in the NIT! If you’ve been monitoring today’s line movements, you probably noticed that all the NIT Over/Unders had huge jumps off the openers. That wasn’t because sharps were Over-crazy. It’s because the first numbers up forgot that the NIT is experimenting with a 30-second shot clock this year to…

A pair of bubble teams square off Tuesday night in Dayton to see who’s NCAA tournament hopes get popped even before the Round of 64 begins. BYU of the West Coast Conference takes on Mississippi of the SEC with a berth Thursday against #6 seed Xavier at stake.

In the recent past, these #11 seed play-in games have launched some Cinderella stories on their own by helping borderline teams get their bearings and confidence. Is either of these teams capable of going deep in a section of the bracket that would also include Baylor before national power Arizona throws up a…

There’s no more exciting time to be THE KING OF UPSETS than in early round action of the NCAA Tournament. These are the ultimate Cinderella stories because college athletics lends itself for to storybook finishes more than the pro’s…and because the whole country gets excited.

I’m not going to specifically tell you my best underdog or upset calls here in my web article. That’s not fair to paying clients. But, I can tell you that I’ve already mapped out the first weekend of action…and I believe some very entertaining stories are going to be developing.

One of the biggest sports betting events of the calendar year is about to begin. So, it’s time to review my most important fundamentals for picking winners in Las Vegas. These two elements loom very large in the NCAA Tournament because pointspreads are fairly tight in terms of accurately reflecting overall team quality. That makes them defenseless against the elements that cause results to skew in one direction or the other.

Only two categories to talk about today. You longtime readers will recognize them, but will find it helpful to review specifically why they matter so much in the Big Dance.

IT’S TIME TO START DANCINGAS THE NCAA TOURNAMENT’S 68-TEAM FIELDIS ANNOUNCED – AND WE WEIGH INON THE COMMITTEE’S PROS & CONS WHILE JIM HURLEY’S NETWORK GETS READYTO ROCK-N-ROLL WITH A BUNCH OF TOURNEY WINNERS

What’s that old saying … you’re never going to make everyone happy!Well, the truth of the matter is the NCAA Tournament Committee was not savagely attacked for its errors/omissions when it comes to this year’s 68-team field – we’ve been saying all along that a batch of mediocre teams have no leg to stand on when it comes to getting an at-large bid to this year’s…

As you’re reading this, you already know who will be playing who later this week in the 2015 NCAA Tournament. And, you’ve already mapped out potential Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and Final Four scenarios. It’s important before you think too far ahead that you take serious stock of the lessons learned this past weekend in conference tournament action.

Some quick takeaways…

*KENTUCKY really is the class of the national field. It remains to be seen how much better than other league champs they are on a neutral court. It’s certainly not a range that makes another Bluegrass championship a foregone conclusion. Longtime…

It all comes down to this. Can the Arkansas Razorbacks be the one in 33-1? Or, will the Kentucky Wildcats head into the 2015 NCAA Tournament with a perfect 34-0 record…staring very intently at a perfect 40-0 season and a National Championship?

The Wildcats have been head and shoulders above the SEC all season…and will be prohibitive favorites again Sunday afternoon in Nashville. The pointspread won’t be way up in the 20’s like it was in the semifinals against badly outmatched Auburn. There’s only so many breaks you can catch in the brackets. The Wildcats are facing a team that could…

Wanted to go up with a “Championship Saturday” market report because we have so many big games on the evening ticket. I’ll talk about how sharps bet the openers in the Conference Finals matchups listed on the regular card. Keep in mind that we could see moves later in the day in the hours before tipoff. It’s a bit more difficult to get a read on sharps on the day-to-day basketball markets than it is with the longer lead-ins during the Big Dance…and with several days of investment time during the NFL season.